20 Amp Fuse blows when I try to crank the engine

[attorneystone]

I will admit it. I am a dummy for getting myself into this one. I was connecting the battery on my boat and accidentally connected the ground wire to the positive post with the positive cable. I fried the ground wire from where the harness connects to the engine all the way to the ignition switch. I ran a new wire. Someone suggested to disconnect the regulator and see if the 20 amp fuse would still blow. When I went to disconnect the regulator, the rubber covers at the connections were all stuck together from getting too hot. So I replaced the regulator thinking it was fried as well. Now atleast I can turn the key to on and the gauges will work as well as the choke. As soon as I try to start the motor the fuse blows. What else am I missing?

 

[NYBo]

The insulation on the wire from ground may be shorted to the wire from the ignition switch to the starter.

 

[attorneystone]

Well I thought that I narrowed it down to a short from the solenoid wire going to the iginition switch. That was ok. So I started disconnecting wires from the ignition one at a time and trying it. The fuse did not blow when I disconnected the red/black strip (red/white stripe to motor). When I touched that wire to the wire going to the solenoid, the motor would crank. So now I am thinking that the ignition switch is bad.